Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alias]

Considering the amount of people in Seoul I have hardly seen any panhandlers. The only exception would be the odd ajuma or old man(which is rare). There is one thing you don't see for sure. Unlike North America, you don't get harrassed by able bodied males for 'spare change'. Say what you want about Korea but the people have more personal pride and dignity than back home.

[Zyzyfer]

I see plenty of homeless in Seoul.

[denz]

hit up some of the number-ga subway stations in jongro area after dark. seoul has a damn lot.

denz

[elmer]

Around Seoul Stn is pretty bad, and alot of the major city's train stations have lots of people asking for money.

It's by no means non-existant...

[Alias]

I didn't say it was non-existenet. Just that for a city of 10 million I find that there is a lot less than in a city like Saint John, New Brunwick(130,000). Not homelessness but panhandling.

[Cthulhu]

The original poster did say panhandling, not homeless.

Strange. I always hear people complain about the "in your face" aspect of the homeless back home, but when its in Korea it's suddenly different and just as bad?!?

[The Lemon]

Saint John, New Brunwick is not a normal place, though. It has a famously high number of derelict, homeless, and mentally unstable folks walking around the downtown core accosting people (I played in a band that played regularly on the waterfront "boardwalk" - every summer for years - and watched this from the stage all the time). Unkind people where I'm from back in Nova Scotia call SJ an "open-air asylum". Having said all that, there's lots in SJ I like.

Go onto any Korean subway and you'll find panhandlers. But yes, it will seem like there are fewer than in SJ because, per capita, there probably are.

[Alias]

Yeah, Saint John isn't that great a city. I also think it smells worse than any city I've been to in Korea.

Back to the topic at hand, has anyone ever seen a able bodied male panhandling here? I haven't. I've only seen the old and handicapped. Back home there are plenty of young people, some dressed better than you, who have no problem getting in your face for money.
I once read an article by a women who was in Calcutta, India. Poverty was rampant. Obviously beggards were everywhere. But she could not recall seeing a able bodied young man ever coming up to her to beg. This is common in Toronto. I think it is a cultural difference between the West and other parts of the world.

[The King of Kwangju]

This is something I've also noticed about Toronto - it's full of homeless and insane. In fact, most Canuck cities are.

Over the summer I had a couple of visitors - one was an inner city Chicago policeman and another was a guy who works in Manhattan. Both of them were visibly shocked by the number of bums on the streets - they just weren't used to seeing it.

I don't want to get preachy, but I think in Korea the family unit stronger than it is here in the West. And its also rolled up into that pride thing - no mother would let their child beg in the streets unless the whole family was poor. The kid would have to be really desperate. Or the mother dead.


KoK

[yodanole]

There are plenty of beggars in Korea. Recently, I saw a young able-bodied 20 something man at the underpass every day I used it. There was last month an older man who would physically accost me at the bus stop every day. I finally had to change my routine to avoid him. If you think there are fewer beggars here than back home, you are not looking for them. If you think they are less agressive than back home, then you are lucky in that they have not found you.

[Al Gore]

I guess it all depends on where "back home" is. In San Francisco, I'd see about 100 homeless people a day, and was asked for money by at least 40 of them. There is absolutely nothing comparable here. And they are in every neighborhood there, not just around train stations. When I was travelling in Bolivia, a very poor country, there was also no situation comparable to S.F., even in the capital city there. Seeing people sleeping in doorways, etc. is really depressing to me, I don't miss it at all.

[Howard Roark]

my boyfriend says all koreans are rich. they're not rich, they're just all living on very-easy-to-get credit.

[dogbert]

[Dan]

i'd say there are fewer but much worse panhandlers in korea. in new york, they ask for money, you ignore them, they move on. in seoul, they ask for money, you ignore them, they just stand there :/

worst is when you're eating at a restaurant and someone comes up to you. makes you lose your appetite.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

I've seen more homelessness in Korea than Canada.

But, I have seen more panhandling in Canada than Korea.